Introduction
Your privacy is very important to me, and you can be confident that your personal information will be kept safe and secure and will only be used for the purpose it was given to me. I adhere to current data protection legislation, including the General Data Protection Regulation (EU/2016/679) (the GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003. This privacy notice tells you what I will do with your personal information from the initial point of contact through to after your therapy has ended.
I am happy to talk through any questions you might have about my data protection policy, and you can contact me via info@ellietingletherapy.com.
‘Data controller’ is the term used to describe the person or organisation that collects, stores and has responsibility for people’s personal data. In this instance, the data controller is Ellie Tingle.
I am registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office, this is available to view at www.ico.org.uk.
My lawful basis for holding and using your personal information
The GDPR states that I must have a lawful basis for processing your personal data. There are different lawful bases depending on the stage at which I am processing your data. I have explained these below:
If you have had therapy with me and it has now ended, I will use legitimate interest as my lawful basis for holding and using your personal information.
If you are currently having therapy or if you are in contact with me to consider therapy, I will process your personal data where it is necessary for the performance of our contract.
The GDPR also makes sure that I look after any sensitive personal information that you may disclose to me appropriately. This type of information is called ‘special category personal information’. The lawful basis for me processing any special categories of personal information is consent initially. I will then retain any counselling records in case of the need to reference them in the future (the official legal basis is to defend against potential legal claims).
How I use your information
Initial contact
When you contact me with an enquiry about my counselling services, I will collect information to help me satisfy your enquiry. This will include your name, email address, phone number, and a brief outline as to why you are accessing counselling. Alternatively, your GP or other health professional may send me your details when making a referral, or a parent or trusted individual may give me your details when making an enquiry on your behalf.
If you decide not to proceed, I will ensure that all your personal data is deleted within one month. If you would like me to delete this information sooner, please let me know.
While you are accessing counselling
Rest assured that everything you discuss with me is confidential. However, where information disclosed during the session is of such concern that confidentiality cannot reasonably be expected to be maintained in the case of serious crime, or if I have reason to believe that there is a risk of serious harm to yourself or others, I reserve the right to contact the appropriate authorities. I endeavour to inform you prior to disclosure unless I consider that the urgency of the situation requires immediate action to safeguard yourself or others.
I attend regular supervision with a qualified supervisor, this is to ensure I am working ethically and professionally, and my work is in line with my professional bodies’ requirements (BACP). In supervision, I will refer to you by first name only.
I will keep a paper record of your personal details to help the counselling services run smoothly. These details are kept in a locked filing cabinet in a secure location. I will also keep brief notes of each session; these are anonymised and kept securely on my password protected laptop.
For security reasons I do not retain text messages or email correspondence, any information that is not important will be deleted after one month. If there is relevant information contained in a text message or email correspondence, I will store this securely with anonymised notes on my password protected laptop.
After counselling has ended
Once counselling has ended, your records will be kept for five years from the end of our contact to meet professional, legal and insurance requirements, and are then securely destroyed.
Visitors to my website
My website is hosted by Squarespace, which collects certain standard internet log information and website usage statistics. This may include information such as your IP address, browser type, device information, and pages visited. This information helps maintain the security and performance of the website, ensure it functions correctly, and understand how visitors interact with it. I rely on legitimate interests as my lawful basis for processing this information. I do not use this information to identify individual visitors, and I do not make any attempt to discover the identities of those visiting my website.
I use Squarespace's built-in analytics to understand how visitors use my website, such as which pages are viewed most often and how people find my website. This information is aggregated and does not identify individual visitors.
Like most websites, my website uses cookies to ensure it functions correctly. With your consent, additional analytics cookies may also be used to help me understand how visitors use the website and to improve its performance. You can manage your cookie preferences using the cookie banner displayed when you first visit the website.
If you complete a contact form on my website, the information you provide is securely transmitted through Squarespace before being sent to me by email. I will only use this information to respond to your enquiry and, where appropriate, arrange an initial consultation.
Your rights
I try to be as open as I can in terms of giving people access to their personal information. You have the right to ask me to delete your personal information, to limit how I use your personal information, or to stop processing your personal information. You also have a right to ask for a copy of any information that I hold about you and to object to the use of your personal data in some circumstances. You can read more about your rights at ico.org.uk/your-data-matters.
If I do hold information about you I will:
give you a description of it and where it came from;
tell you why I am holding it;
tell you how long I will store your data and how I made this decision;
tell you who it could be disclosed to;
let you have a copy of the information in an intelligible form.
You can also ask me at any time to correct any mistakes there may be in the personal information I hold about you.
To make a request for any personal information I may hold about you, please put the request in writing to info@ellietingletherapy.com.
If you have a complaint about how I handle your personal data, please do not hesitate to get in touch with me using the email given above. I would welcome any suggestions for improving my data protection procedures.
If you want to make a formal complaint about the way I have processed your personal information, you can contact the ICO, which is the statutory body that oversees data protection law in the UK. For more information go to ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint.
